Dr. Isaac Jennings, who served as Oberlin's mayor in 1849,
came to Oberlin in 1839 as a physician with an honorary M. D. from Yale University.
Jennings practiced a system of medecine which he termed orthopathy. He was "convinced
that medecine was harmful instead of helpful, [and] he had entirely discarded
it." Believing symptoms of illness were nature's way of helping the body,
he advocated solely nursing and comfort, and not artificial medecines and treatments.
Whether or not his theory was valid, Jennings lived a long life as a member
of Oberlin: he died in 1875 at the age of 86.